Boris Berezovsky, the businessman who is also deputy secretary of Russia's Security Council, has issued writs for libel in London's High Court against Forbes magazine. Berezovsky alleges that Forbes libeled him in an article in its December issue that claimed he had links to organized... MORE

The upper house of the Russian parliament yesterday gave its approval to the 1997 federal budget. It now goes to the president to be signed into law, even though leading economists and even some members of the government have said its prediction of two percent... MORE

Aslan Maskhadov, inaugurated yesterday's as Chechnya's third president, is to act as his own prime minister, sources close to Maskhadov are quoted as saying. (Itar-Tass, February 13) Berezovsky Sues Forbes.

A special joint session of Tajikistan's government and parliamentary leaders yesterday issued an official public offer aimed at meeting the demands of the Sodirov brothers in exchange for the release of the remaining 15 UN observers and journalists, as well as the Tajik state security... MORE

In his talks with NATO secretary general Javier Solana on December 10 in Chisinau, Moldovan president Petru Lucinschi proposed that NATO develop a mechanism for providing security guarantees to neutral countries, specifically including Moldova. Lucinschi stated that the presence of foreign (i.e. Russian) troops in... MORE

The OSCE's Minsk Group -- 11 countries that mediate the negotiations on a settlement of the Karabakh conflict -- has overcome a paralyzing internal dispute. According to simultaneous announcements yesterday in Yerevan, Baku, Moscow, and Paris, the group has agreed to have two co-chairmanships instead... MORE

Russian Duma deputies Sergei Kovalev and Konstantin Borovoi disclosed yesterday that Foreign Minister Yevgeni Primakov called for economic sanctions against Estonia at the Duma's February 7 closed session. Kovalev, a human rights campaigner, and Borovoi, leader of the Economic Freedom party, recounted that the Communists... MORE

Rumors that Igor Rodionov's days as Russia's defense minister may be numbered have begun swirling in Moscow again following Rodionov's February 6 warning that the armed forces are in a crisis state and that command and control over the country's nuclear forces is growing ever... MORE

Russian Security Council secretary Ivan Rybkin created an uproar yesterday when he stated that Russia should not hesitate to be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict. (Rossiiskaya gazeta, February 11) Presidential press spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky said that RybkinÕs remark "does not reflect... MORE

Russian justice minister Valentin Kovalev said yesterday that there are "no insuperable problems" in realizing the idea of sovereignty for Chechnya. (Interfax, February 12) Moreover, Kovalev said, Chechnya has already achieved political independence. He said the most effective solution would be for the Russian parliament... MORE